First off, many, many thanks for all of your suggestions. They were, quite literally, all over the map. From China, Japan, Thailand and Vietnam to Costa Rica, Peru, and Argentina to the Amalfi Coast, Azerbaijan and Disney World. I particularly enjoyed the random text messages I would receive when someone thought of another place! I finally whittled down the list to Suriname, Switzerland and Namibia, and I seriously considered a tour of the Balkans and a week sailing the Mediterranean Sea….

I need your help! I don’t know where to go. And I’m serious. I have enough miles for a free trip on Delta, possibly even first class depending on the destination, and I’ve been saving my vacation time. I’ll have five weeks available by the time my birthday rolls around. And it’s a big one: 40. The problem? I don’t know where to go. I’ve realized that my last three big trips were really someone else’s idea. Ireland? Mom. France?…

I’ve now been a resident of Florida for over half my life. That is an odd thing to say, as I still think of myself as being from Kentucky. However, my ability to identify a roach leg at 10 paces out has developed over the course of many years in this bug-friendly habitat. And yes, you read that right. Roach leg. It’s not uncommon to find a hairy little leg on the floor with no trace of the body that…

WWWWhew! It’s been a while (but I did warn you I was a world’s worst blogger nominee). I was on a roll with the blog! Until, I went to Scotland. Yup. Went to Scotland in June. Haven’t posted about it yet. Instead of diving into whisky vs. Outlander, I want to talk about something a bit more divisive. Something that will split families, destroy friendships, and cause countless articles to be written about it: Photoshop. A recent study determined that people…

Occasionally I like to do a little blog maintenance, even if that means I’m not actually writing anything: I log in, I erase the spam, and I log out. Today, I decided to extend that spring cleaning to the @travelorelse Twitter account too. And wow. I’m a little depressed, and not because of the fact that Twitter is a bit of a dumpster fire anyway. When I started Twitter, I did so with the idea of focusing primarily on travel,…

One of the really cool things about Tallinn is its proximity to other countries along the Baltic Sea. Daily ferries run to Stockholm, Helsinki, and St. Petersburg (Russia), or you could take a longer, bigger cruise that stops at all of these locations (although, I can’t imagine Old Town Square is quite as idyllic stuffed with Royal Caribbean passengers). Double D and I wanted to spend most of our holiday in Tallinn, learning the ins and outs of our neighborhood…

What is it about being in a foreign country that makes deciding where to eat so difficult? Not knowing the language, not knowing the customs, and not knowing the cuisine can be overwhelmingly intimidating. But finding an extraordinary restaurant can be the highlight of any trip. One of the great advantages of staying in an AirBnB is that the host almost always recommends restaurants. Sometimes those recommendations are off the mark, like our host in Paris who apparently thought people…

Perhaps you’ll remember (probably not) that after the spectacular Christmas fail of 2015, I decided to spend the next Christmas abroad. Despite having spent a large chunk of the summer in France and South Africa, I brought this idea up to my husband, Double D, some time around October. He enthusiastically agreed; we needed to do something different for the holidays this year. Like any good travel planners, Double D and I pulled out our laptops and got to work. On that bottle…

NOT ME! What? Really? Why?! Because the ‘World’s Worst Blogger’ wouldn’t be blogging. That person would be the worst and therefore, wouldn’t be back after a months-long hiatus. And so here I am, after only posting four times in 2016. FOUR TIMES. That’s pathetic. But a lot happened in 2016. Some of it, not so good; I lost the doggie love of my life, Winzig. Some of it, awesomely good; there’s a pitter-pat (and occasionally, rip, rip, rip) of a new…

I’m feeling overwhelmed by the lack of intelligence and grace in the world right now. How about you? Perhaps it’s fallout from the presidential election and realizing the majority of the American population has vast difficulty in the realm of analysis and research. Maybe it’s the bombardment of all things Christmas, which, let’s be honest, has been ongoing since November 1. Maybe it’s the lack of attention to this blog: poor blog. While leaving work yesterday, I was feeling particularly…